Amazing how I find St. Hils inadvertently addresses some issues in its own way..

Hiya Everyone
It is well over a week since my last blog.  However as you will all know if you have been following my blog that I have been very poorly which is taking time and medication to help me get back to my "normal self".  I am not sure whether I was happy or sad when the doctor told me last Wednesday on the results of my latest blood tests that things HAD improved and that I should attempt a return to work.  Anyone off work for more than a few days will appreciate what a mountain that feels for me at the moment so please everyone wish me luck for next Monday as it will be the first day I will HAVE to remain awake all day!  I had to laugh at my doctor though because he suggested that, once you are able to cite each and every programme on daytime tv, you are ready to go back to work.  Sadly I obliged and sealed my fate!  I have found out the hard way how easy it is to turn yourself into an invalid and expect all to be done FOR you so I suspect my poor long suffering husband is pleased too that I have been declared fit enough to return to work!  I can't tell you how hard my first day on my own at home was......nobody to wait on me hand and foot so there I was relearning how to make cups of tea, toast, dinner hot water bottles again.

Enough of my whines and whinges I hear you all cry and MORE about St. Hils.......................

Before I begin another trip down memory lane I have a confession to make..and before I tell you see below for the evidence.........

NOT good enough is it?  This is NOT me at all because during my time off sick I have unusually been able to stare at this unacceptable situation day after day with dolls having fallen over and ducks not perched properly.........................

Here you can see better how poor Alice has been lying on the floor for ages as I have so neglected her welfare whilst being so wrapped up on my own.  The picture, as with the other one, has been taken "on the hoof" as it were with flash and macro whilst I held the camera. 

Here you see more closely in the chancel/sanctuary how poor Tom has fallen over and again, I have been extremely neglectful of his welfare too poor boy!  Gloria, our new "duck on the block" is no longer perching on the altar properly either. Even the lily I had Eric holding for Gloria has fallen off his beak too.  I guess tacky wax is good but it doesn't always last forever!   It really does amaze me how I can have the whole church set up so well with not one thing out of place (well perhaps not - you know how easy it is to miss things?!) and suddenly, without reason, a doll decides "enough is enough" and collapses on me!  Such is life.

I have to thank Frances of Buttercup Miniatures for giving me some ideas for this blog.  It was, in deed, Frances who pointed something out to me that, although I had given it SOME thought, I had not really considered it a big deal.  It amazes me how, in my storylines, I suddenly realise I have addressed an issue that I know is very important within society itself because it has something to do with not only the issue, but also in how it is viewed by society in general. 

I realise that literacy is something that many of us take for granted but for some people, particularly adults, it is something of an issue if they either never attended school enough to learn to read or write properly or, for some other reason, they just never "got it".   However I didn't really set out to address this issue at all when putting together our Remembrance page last year in which I cite poor Ernest as not being able to read or write but who still wanted his mother remembered in the list of those who had died as she had died so recently and he missed her sorely as does his father, Eric.  Of course my immediate thought was - how CAN a duck be expected to read or write?  However I quickly realise that a duck would not be welcome in any real full sized church whether it could read or write so the issue would never arise in real life would it? 

Now I have a BIG confession to make and anyone who has visited St. Hils over the years are welcome, if they can remember, let me know which page I featured this issue on with our Rita and son.  I have just spent literally ages trawling through both current and archived back up folders to find which page it was on and have now temporarily given up.  Let me explain................Rita as you all know came to England from Australia.  The reasons for her now living on the road are obscure and in that I like to leave the detail to our visitors' imagination.  However I distinctly remember having a feature on one page where the vicar actually receives a letter from her son who has finally tracked her down.  Rita, you see, must have had good reasons which I never explain, as to why she had to leave her son when he was so small with his father.  What circumstances led her to live on the road?  Did she have to go to a women's refuge because her husband had treated her badly?  However if that was the case why didn't she take her son with her? She may have been the victim of mental illness and had developed severe depression and was unable to stay in the family home and left for the sake of her husband and child. 

Whatever the case, Rita would never have forgotten her son and, when the vicar of St. Hils gives her this contact letter from him she is just so overjoyed that he has found her. 

 I have also included a really old photo here with Rita sitting on the back pew.  You see she is quite shy and much prefers to stay out of the limelight.......Rita, incidentally, was made for us by a friend of ours, Rachel Fritz, who lives in South Australia.  She is a truly great artist and also provided us with the vicar and in him, she has also set the whole character of St. Hils for me!

Homer too is a man of the road that the vicar is happy to provide refuge to in St. Hils.  He came from Germany because he was made for us by Daniela Kiefhaber as was our Rev Ken who was modelled on a real life man of the cloth who is also a family friend.  Rev Ken, actually represents our friend because it was he who took us all under his wing when my father died back in 1980.  In addition to taking my father's funeral Ken also married Andrew and myself back in 1991 as well as taking the funeral of my mother, the late Hilary Davies.  Mother referred to him as "my rock" and indeed, during her subsequent life after the loss of my father, he certainly fulfilled that role for her - thanks for that Ken!

Gosh I have strayed off my original path...sorry for that.  Where was I?  Oh yes I was really talking about both Homer and Rita.  I particularly wanted to have such people in my St. Hils because it so represents what I remember of my childhood days when my father took the family to church.  A church to me is not a church if all are not welcome.  I will always remember the kindness of my father to one particular old lady who lived on the road during one particularly harsh Winter.  In my minds' eye I can still see my dear father lead this lady right up to the front of the church where she would be most visible in order to sit her right next to a church heater to keep the poor lady warm.  The church concerned is a city centre church and, as such, was and still is a venue that much attracts people who really have nowhere else to go when things are not good for them.

So it is fitting that St. Hils has at least two people who are homeless as part of the congregation.  You see my message is..God loves EVERYONE whatever their circumstances are and with no favour.  So in addressing the issues I have chatted about today I feel it is good that people can know that it is "okay" if you can't read, or live on the streets or........well anything really. 

Whoops - sorry about the above cos I realise I have gotten all philosophical but hope you all get the gist of my message here!  Perhaps you could say I have had too much time to think over the last four weeks!  

I have now got to get my head around to Pentecost - any ideas out there folks?  If you have any do let me know.  I can't promise I will use them all but any ideas are great because it sets my imagination off.  So far we have had Pentecost parties to celebrate the day as the birthday of the church..........a lesson completed by the children on the subject of Pentecost majoring in on the fruit of the Spirit............so any other slants on the subject all gratefully received.  Even if you have a funny pet story that we could adapt for our own pets is welcome.........

Till the next time........